Flooring.



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'/4 z gj fg A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM IIoLT AND JOHN A. SMITH, IoF Los 'ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

Specification ,of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. l2, 1907.

Application filed Septenibei-yl'iir- Serial No. 333,259.

1'0 all wil/m11, t may concern.

Be it known that we, WILLIAM HOLT, a citizen of GreatBritain, and JOHN A. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, both residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Flooring, of which the following is a specification.

It is of the objects of this invention to provide an improved thin hard-wood iioorlng for covering subfloors, to so construct the same as to facilitate laying the same, to dispense with the necessity of handling a block for driving the boards together to avoid marring in the process of laying the floot, and to securemaximum wear without exposure of the fastenings which hold the boards in place.

This novel iiooring is provided at itsgforward edge with a base-rah bet and with a rearwarmly-sloping nailing and hammering face which can be hammered upon Without danger of splitting theb'oard or marring the same at any place where itwill injure the appearance of the floor when laid.

A rinciple of the invention is that the base-rabbet on the forward edge and the baselip at the rear edge to fit the rabbet of the adjoining board are narrow and that the sloping face extends above the base-rabbet as far toward the axis of the board as does the baserabbet, so that a nail driven into the sloping nailing-face atan appropriate angle to enter the subfloor to draw the board back against the prior-laid board will escape the rabbet and may be driven home by direct blows of the hammer, which also impinges on the board and drives it against said prior-laid board to inake a perfectly-tightjoint without danger of splitting and without marring any part of the board that will not be cov# ered when the floor is completely laid.

This invention includes a eculiar convex driving and nailin edge an .also includes a modified form in w 'ch the driving and nailing edge has a flat inclined surface.

The upper pprtion of this ooringyboard is double the t 'cknesss of the `conventional joints used on thin flooring, thus more solidity and durability and doing away with breaking and warping of the thin lip o f the conventional thin ooring. j

The resent invention has been designed particularly to overcome these disadvantages andto provide a board for thin fiooring which wil notbe liable to curl up and necessitate relaying with new flooring, and,

furthermore,l to make a joint which is solid and to do away with the thin tongue and lip.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation through the sub-floor, showing our improved iooring applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective of a single ooring-board. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a modification.

- As will be noted, the body portion 1 is provided with a convex edge 2, terminating abruptly on the lower sice in a rabbet 3. The termination of the convexity of one side of said ed ge is on a line parallel with the vertical rabbet formed below.

When a nail 4 has been driven at an angle through the board 1, the amount of space left between the rabbet and the upper surface of the flooring is such that twice the amount of spaceoccupied by the rabbet is i left to be Worn and used. 'This is of course a great distinction from the conventional tongue-and-groove joint, which can only be Worn to about one-third \of its thickness, when the iiooring is of no further use and relaying is necessary.

The opposite side of the iooring-board is abruptly concaved, as seen at 5, the concavity terminating in a lip 6, projecting forward and on a line parallel with the beginning of the concave edge, the shape of this edge of the board conformingexactly with the adjoining board of the iooring.

In our invention the convexity of the edge admits of a nail being driven home into the subiioor (shown at 7) to the most defined delineation of the convex surface Without the use of a nail-set and without damaging the surface of the rotund portion. Even though such portion should be dented by a blow from the hammer it would have no material effect on the adjoining interlocking floorboard, because of the concavity of the overlapping ed e', which snugly tits the convex 'portion au forms practicall a unit.

. The results accomplishe are vpractically thehsame as the results accomplished by two adjoining boards having square edges, the difference residing merely in the interlocking feature.

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When a nail has `been driven .through they convex ortion, it secures that board in osition an allows two-thirds of the ent-ire t 'ckness of the board to be worn before it is necessary to renew the iooring. Furthermore, it allows the same to be planed down in case IIO it has become disrigured, inasmuch as there i at approximaely two-thirds of the strip in ais an ample amount of solid inaierial above the rabbeu.

What we claim 1s- 1. A flooring-board provided on irs'f-ront I edge with a base-rabbet and a driving and nailing edge extending rearwardly from ihe rabber gradually to the surface of the board the rernnnaiion of said edge being on a line ver'iical wich thai of the rabbe' and exiend ing over a greaL er area of Lne board edge ihan l the lip being on a line vertical wi'uh Thau of 'ruhe sloping edge.

2. Afiooring-board comprising a sirip having on one edge a convex curve Aexiending from ihe iop surface of 4the sirip forwardly thereof and downwardly a; a gradually-in g creasing widih lo appro'limarely Lwo-Lnirds of the thickness vLhereof and rerminaiing in a ledge ar right angles io ihe veriical line of said slrip and forming a rabber, ille other l edge of said s.rip having a concave curve extending from the top surface of saidslrip i rearwardly and downwardly and ierniinaiing lip airight angles to the verLical line of said sbrip.

3. A flooring-board comprising a thin sfrip having on one edge a conveX curve eXiending from bhe iop surface of the sirip forwardly thereof and downwardly io approximai ely iwoethirds' of iis `Lhickness at agradually-increasing widih, and then rearwardly 1o a depth equal io Lhe widrh of said convex curve as he poinry of ier-minus Lhereof, ihe greaiesi depih of said convex curve being on a linev veriical wiih ihe incipiernv poinrv of said'forwardly-exiending curve and forming subsf.an.ially a rabbe, rhe oiher edge of said sirip having a concave curve exiending from Lhe iop surface o'f'ifhesrip rearwardly ihereof and downwardly a., a gradually-increasing dep'ch, and ierminaing ina lip.

ln i esiimony whereof we vhave hereunto set our hands, ai' Los Angeles, California, ihis 23d day of Augusr7 1906.

WILLIAM llOL'l. JOHN A. SMITH.

In presence of- ANTON GLOETZNER, JAMES R. TmVNSEND. 

